Framed panel and the manufacture thereof



Nov. 30, 1954 c, J RD ET AL 2,695,664

FRAMED PANEL AND THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF Original Filed June 9, 1947 2Sheets-Sheet l FlG.z

w n /5 2/a 5a /50 FIGJA CARL JVDELEGARD ATTORNEY FRAMED PANEL AND THEMANUFACTURE THEREOF Carl J. Delegard, Chicago, and Michael- J Nardulli,Elmwood Park, 1112,.assignors to.Mi'chael J. Nardulli, Angelo F1 Naples,audPeter RlNardulli; .as trustees, and known as Western EngineeringTrust Original application June 9} 1947, Serial No. 753,586. Dividedandthisapplication January 11, .1949, Serial No. 70,244 v Thisapplication is a' division of our copending application, Serial No.753,586, filedJune 9, 1947.

This invention relates generally'to framed panels and particularly itrelates to framed panels wherein a rectangular frame composed of sideand end frame .memhers is arranged to support and impart rigidity to apanel of relatively low strength material that extends across the framethat is thus defined.

Framed panels of the character with which-the present invention isconcerned are utilized in a Wide variety of arts, and such framed panelsmay take the.form of window sash, window screens,. doors having panelsof screen, glass, wood or other materials, or as elements of furnituresuch for'example as the top of 'a card table or the like. Framed panelsof 'the aforesaid general. character haveheretoforebeenmade through theuse of miter joints; dovetail joints or the like, between .the four.elements' 'of the rectangular'frame, and aftersformation of the frameithas in most instances been customary to mount the panel material on theframe by {attaching the panel material .either to the face. of the framemembers or by securing such panel material in rabbeted grooves about theinner edges of the frame. Such manufacture of'framed-"panels involves aconsiderable amount. of specialmachine work as ..well as hand'work andfitting, and Where the panelmaterial is flexible in character as is thecase when a screen material is employed, the problem 'of stretching andproperly disposingthe panel material on= the frame .is quite troublesomeand it is quite common to find that the material has. not been properlyand neatly applied. a

In view of the foregoingitis animportantobject of the present inventionto enable framed panels of the-aforesaidcharacter to be more easilyassembled, andan object related to the foregoing is to eliminate skilledforming and. fittingoperations in the production of such-framedpanels-The problem of stretching a screen panel material or a'likeflexiblematerial such as transparent treated cloth or the like is recognized asbeing one of the reasons why framed panels ofsucha ,characterzarerelatively expensive, and a further and important. object of thepresent. inventionis to simplify the stretching and attachment -ofsuchflexible-panel materials; in the manufacture of framed panels. An objectrelated to theforegoing is to enable such framed panels to be formed"onassembled in. a continuous succession so" that the flexible panelmaterial extends during the assembly and.manufacturmg operation betweenthe'successive framed panels, and through such an arrangement to afford*a.continuously stretched and properly formed body ofpanel. materialwithrespect to which'the frame elements may bereadily and easilyassembled. An object related to the foregoing is to enable finish.molding heretofore required. inscreenpanels .to

be eliminated, thereby to save in material, assembly labor and painting,with the resultant saving in cost of such screens; andtfurther, toenable the formationand'finishing of the Wood elements to be simpifiedby enabling frame elements finished or'smoothlysurfacedby planing uponbut two facestto be employed.

In accordance with prior practice, wood framed screens of standarddesign have been.made from lumber that is ll/sinches byinchin.cross..-seetion, and this has been considered to ,be necessary.in. order to. attain sufiicient strength in thecorner oints of the.screens.- Ibis, of

2,695,664 Patented Nov. 30, 1954 course, recognized that any reductionin the size or cross section of the lumber used in such frames wouldresult in economy, either by savings in lumber, or by enabling lumber tobe used which would otherwise be considered as scrap, audit is a furtherobject of the present invention to enable this to be accomplished whileat the same time enabling highstrength screens, or other framed panels,to bereadilyand economically produced. A fur-' ther and related objectis to form each frame member from two half-thickness frame elements'soas to facilitateuse ofthin strips such as barking strips, edgings,

off falls and other material that would otherwise'be con-' sidered asscrap, and by such aconstruction to minimize the ob ectionable effect ofstructural weaknesses that are often found in a particular frameelement; and a related. ob ect is to enable at least a substantialproportion ofsuch frame elements to be'made from shorter pieces thanheretofore were required; thereby to further promote the use of cheapscrap material.

In screen panels as heretofore constructed, and to some extent in othertypes of framed panels, the attainment of strength in the framed panelshas been limited primarily to the frames, and it is a further object ofthe present invention to enable the relatively flexible or low strengthipanel material to cooperate efliciently with the frame elements toattain exceptionally high strength and extreme ruggedness and rigidityin the finished'panels; and an ob-' ject'related tothe foregoing is,through the greatly improved strength characteristics as aforesaid, toenable reduction in size and cost of'the frame elements to be attainedwhere the maximumof economy is desired; A

further and related object is to afford a continuous bond. or connectionbetween the border edges of thepanel and the frame elements, thereby toinsure efficient force transmission and maximum bracingand strengthinsuchstructures.

As hereinbefore pointed out, the manufacture of framed panels asheretofore practiced has involved the special forming of the'ends ofeach of the frame elements so as.

to prepare the same for cooperation in some .type of flush joint, andsuch special forming operations are of course relatively expensive. It'is therefore a further object of the present inventionto enable framedpanels having efficient and rigid corner joints to be produced fromframe elements having rectangularly formed' ends, therebyjtosimplify'the preparation of such frame elements.

Other and further objects of the present invention will.

be apparent'from'the following description and claims and areillustrated in the accompanying drawings-Which; show preferredembodiments and by way of illustration, the principles thereof and whatwe now consider to be the bestmode' in which we have contemplatedapplying Other embodiments of the invention.

those principles. embodying the same or equivalent principles mayxbeused and structural changes may be made as desired bythose skilled inthe art without departing from. the present in Fig. 2 is a fragmentarysectional View taken along theline 22 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view lllustrating a full screen constructed inaccordance with the present invention;

Figs. 4A and 4B are views illustrating the. way in which the frameelements of the full screen of Fig. 3 are .assembled and related;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view'illustrating the way,

in which the lower elements of the frame of a half-storm window sash areassembled;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig: 5 and shows the rela tionshipof theuppenelements of theframe of such-a Window:

Fig. 7 is a perspective viewof the completed-halfwindow type of 1 stormsash;

Fig- 7Aisan elevational view of one type of conventional fasteningelement that 'may be used;

frame.

Fig. 8 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 9 is a similar view of another kind of framed anel. p For purposesof disclosure the present invention has been herein illustrated asembodied in several different types of framed panels, but it will beunderstood that these examples are merely for purposes of disclosure andare not intended to constitute an exhaustive showing of all framedpanels falling within the scope of the present invention. Thus, in Figs.1 and 2, a framed panel in the form of a half-screen has beenillustrated, such half-screen 150 being of the kind that is adapted foruse as a screen closure outside of the lower sash of a doublehungwindow. The half-screen 150 comprises an upper frame member 151, sideframe members 152 and 153, and a bottom frame member 154, and these fourframe members are arranged to afford a rectangular frame across which ascreen panel 155 is stretched. It will be observed that the frame thatis thus afforded is in the form of a pair of half-thickness framesbetween which the border portions of the screen panel 155 are extendedand secured, and this manner of forming the frame of the framed panel150 not only simplifies the planing mill operations that are necessaryin preparing the various frame elements for assembly, but also enablesthe framed panel to be assembled on the machine that has been disclosedin our aforesaid application. The half-thickness frame structures thatare thus utilized may, for purposes of disclosure, be termed front andrear half-thickness frame structures, and the slats which make up suchfront and rear half-thickness frame structures are herein differentiatedthrough the use of the letters F and R as suffixes on the referencenumerals that have been applied to the various side frame members. Thusthe upper side frame member comprises a front frame member 151F and arear frame member 151R which, as will be evident in Fig. 1, are offsetlongitudinally in the completed framed panel. Similarly, the other threeframe members are afforded by front and rear frame elements that are ineach case offset longitudinally so as to enable effective and rigidjoints to be formed in a simple manner at the corners of the In thestructure shown in Fig. l, the front and rear frame elements of eachframe member are of the same length, as will be evident in Fig. l, andwith this arrangement, the elements of each half-thickness framestructure are arranged so as to be symmetrical with respect to a centerpoint of the panel. This symmetry about the center point enables thenumber of different lengths required in the assembly of a framed panelto be minimized, but where this economy is not necessary, other types ofsymmetry in the finished frame panel may be attained, as will behereinafter described, with particular reference to Figs. 1A and 1B ofthe drawings.

In assembling the various frame elements of the halfscreen 150 of Fig.1, one end of each frame element is engaged with the side edge of one ofthe next adjacent frame elements of the same half-thickness framestructure thereby to afford a butt joint. Thus, with respect to eachhalf-thickness frame structure, a plurality of similar butt joints 156are provided in a symmetrical relation about or with respect to a centerpoint in the framed panel. The relationship of the butt joints that arethus afforded is reversed in the other of the two half-thickness framestructures, and the screen panel 150 is disposed between the twohalf-thickness frame structures as will be evident at 150A in Fig. 2. Itwill be apparent that with this arrangement, one end of each frameelement is disposed in an overlapping face-to-face relationship to theadjacent end of a frame element of the other half-thickness structure,thus in effect forming a lap joint with the frame element of the otherhalfthickness frame structure that is disposed at right angles thereto.The ultimate effect of this relationship is that a half-lap joint isafforded at each corner of the framed panel 150, and under the presentinvention the half-lap joints and the opposed faces of all of the frameelements are secured together adhesively so as to afford an extremelyrigid structure that may be economically pro duced. In order that theelements may be maintained in their assembled relationship whilepressure is applied initially and is thereafter maintained between theelements of the framed panel, mechanical fastening means are preferablyput in place between the various frame elements immediately afterassembly thereof has been completed. Such mechanical fastening elementsmaytake the form of nails 158 that are of a commercial kind adapted tobe applied through the use of a nailing ma-' chine. The details of sucha nail 158 have been illustrated in Fig. 7A of the drawings.

The arrangement of elements embodied in the framed panel of Figs. 1 and2 adapts this framed panel for convenient assembly in the machine thathas been disclosed in our aforesaid application. Thus the rear frameelements that afford the half-thickness rear frame structure may be putin place, and prior to the positioning of the elements of thehalf-thickness rear frame structure one flat face and one end face ofeach slat has an adhesive suitably applied thereto by any conventionalmeans. and in putting the elements into' position, the ends to whichglue has been applied are disposed so as to form the butt joints 156.When the framed panel is to have a panel material made of screen, suchscreen is stretched across the lower half frame, as, for. example, inthe manner described in our aforesaid copending application, and thefront frame elements areput in position on top of the screen panel andin the opposing relationship to the rear frame elements as indicated inFig. 1. The fastening nails 158 are then applied so as to hold theassembled elements in position, it being noted that the lower face andone end edge ofeach front frame element has had an adhesive appliedthereto so that when such positioning has been completed, the requiredadhesive is in position and the frame elements may be pressed togetherduring curing of the adhesive. The assembly is then placed underpressure which is maintained for the curing period re-- quired by theparticular adhesive that has been used.

It will be evident that the framed panels 150 may be assembledindividually and that under such circumstances the only separatingoperation required is the severing of the screen web between the theadjacent individual units. Under other circumstances, however, theindividual units may be assembled so as to afford a continuoussuccession of interconnected units 150, and under such circumstances theintegral frame elements of adjacent units may be subsequently sep--arated as described in our aforesaid application. Thus the top andbottom members 151 and 154 (of Fig. 1) of each frame structure may beformed by relatively Wide members so that the units are joined togetheras they are originally put in place. Such a continuous series of panelsmay be then cut apart to form individual units or half-screens such asthe unit 150 of Fig. l, or may be cut at points 171 and 172 as indicatedin Fig. 4 to afford full length screens such as the screen 175 shown inFig. 2 of the drawings.

In Figs. 3, 4A and 4B, the long side frame elementsthat are thusutilized when full length screens 175 are to be produced have beenidentified as 176L, and in" Figs. 4A and 4B, the front and rearhalf-thickness frame structures have been shown. In such anarrangementof frame elements, the several corners, including thosecorners on joints at the central cross rail 177 are in the nature ofhalf-lap joints and the elements are as-- sembled in the mannerhereinbefore described so as to adhesively and mechanically secure theframe elements together. In the production of full length screens 175,it is often desirable to locate the severance lines at 171 3 and 172 soas to afford a relatively high lower frame element 178 and acomparatively narrow upper frame element 179, as will be evident in Fig.4B of the drawings. Otherwise, the method of procedure or assembly isthe same as hereinbefore described.

The framed panels of the present invention may also be of such acharacter that the panel material is rigid in character, and in Figs. 5to 8, such an arrangement has been illustrated as applied to ahalf-length storm sash 180. This storm sash has a rigid glass panel181,. and the assembly of the elements is substantially the same I ashereinbefore described with the exception, however. that the rear frameelements have rabbeted grooves 184 formed therein into which thebordering edges of the glass panel extend. The parts are securedtogether in' the same manner through the use of adhesive that issimilarly applied, and mechanical fastening elements 158 are similarlyapplied. Such framed panels 120 embodying rigid panel material may ofcourse be assembled,

- individually as hereinbefore described, or may be as-' sembled as agroup or series of units that are subsequently separated.

It has also been pointed out that framed panels of the present inventionmay be utilized as table tops, and in Fig. 9 a fragmentary illustrationof such a table top structure will be found. In this framed panel 136, arear frame element 187R has a rabbeted groove 1% into Which a narrowflange 189 of a rabbeted table top panel 190 extends. The flange 189 isformed by rabbeting the table top panel 190 to afford an edge 191, andthe front frame element 187F fits against the shoulder 191 and againstthe rear frame element 187R so as to be adhesively secured to thesurface or edge 191, the flange 189 and the rear frame element 187R.This form of frame panel may, of course, be formed in the same manner ashereinbefore described with respect to the other types of framed panels.

From the foregoing description it is to be evidenced that the presentinvention enables framed panels of many difierent types to be readilyand easily assembled and this is accomplished under the presentinvention in such a way that skilled forming and fitting operations areeliminated. It will also be evident that the present inventionmaterially simplifies the problem of obt inmg the proper stretchedrelationship in the panel material of certain types of framed panels. Itwill also be clear that the present invention permits framed panes to bemade as a continuous series which may thereafter be severed to formindividual panel units. It will also be evident that the presentinvention enables the finish molding heretofore required in screenpanels to be eliminated, thereby to save in material, assembly labor andpainting with the resultant saving in cost of such screens; and thisinvention also enables the formation and finishing of the wood elementsto be simplified by enabling frame elements finished or smoothlysurfaced by planing upon but two faces to be employed. Furthermore, thepresent invention effects a marked reduction in the size or crosssection of the lumber used in such frames and this results in economy,both as to savings in lumber, and by enabling lumber to be used whichwould otherwise be considered as scrap. These results are accomplishedWhile at the same time enabling high strength screens, or other framedpanels, to be readily and economically produced. Under the presentinvention, by forming each frame member from two halfthickness frameelements, the use of thin strips such as barking strips, edgings, offfalls and other material that would otherwise be considered as scrap, isfacilitated, and by such a construction, the objectionable effect ofweaknesses that are often found in a particular frame element isminimized; and at least a substantial proportion of elements may be madefrom shorter pieces than heretofore were required, thereby to furtherpromote the use of cheap scrap material.

A further advantageous feature of the present invention it is to benoted that under the present invention, the relatively flexible or lowstrength panel material cooperates efficiently with the frame elementsto attain exceptionally high strength and extreme ruggedness andrigidity in the finished panels; and moreover, through the greatlyimproved strength characteristics as aforesaid, a reduction in size andcost of the frame elements may be effected where the maximum of economyis desired.

Thus, While We have illustrated and described the preferred embodimentsof our invention, it is to be understood that these are capable ofvariation and modification, and we therefore do not wish to be limitedto the precise details set forth, but desire to avail ourselves of suchchanges and alterations as fall within the purview of the followingclaims.

We claim:

1. A screen closure comprising: a rigid frame having a relatively largeopening therein; a screen extending completely over said opening withthe outer margin of the screen overlying the inner margin of said framearound the edges of said opening; elements of flat rigid materialoverlying said outer margin of the screen and said inner margin of theframe to form a panel around said opening; and a layer of adhesivematerial interposed between said elements and said frame bonding saidinner margin of the frame to said panel through the openings in saidscreen, said layer embedding and anchoring the individual strands of thescreen and uniting the frame, screen, and panel in an integral mannerinto one solid unitary structure.

2. A screen closure comprising: a rigid frame having a relatively largerectangular opening therein; a screen extending completely over saidopening with the outer margin of the screen overlying the inner marginof said frame around the edges of said opening; a panel having theconfiguration of an open rectangle overlying said outer margin of thescreen and said inner margin of the frame; and a layer of adhesivematerial having the pattern of an open rectangle, said layer being atleast as thick as said screen and being interposed between said paneland said frame, said layer bonding said inner margin of the frame tosaid panel through the openings in said screen thereby uniting theframe, screen, and panel in an integral manner into one solid unitarystructure, said layer embedding the individual strands of the screen andanchoring the strands against yielding to tensioning of the strands upto the tensile strength of the strands.

3. A screen closure comprising: a rigid rectangular frame having twopairs of parallel members forming the four sides of a rectangularopening; a screen extending completely over said opening with the outermargin of the screen overlying the inner margin of said frame around theedges of said opening; a panel in the form of an open rectangleoverlying said outer margin of the screen and said inner margin of theframe, said panel having straight rigid members forming the sides of therectangle, each of two of said straight rigid members overlying onemember of said pairs of parallel members and overlying end portions ofthe other of said pairs of parallel members; and a layer of adhesivematerial interposed between said frame and said panel, said layerbonding said inner margin of the frame to said panel through theopenings in said screen, said layer embedding and anchoring theindividual strands of the screen and uniting the frame, screen, andpanel in an integral manner into one solid unitary structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 808,686 Rockwell Jan. 2, 1906 1,044,626 Cleveland Nov. 19,1912 1,117,717 Spinks Nov. 17, 1914 1,285,973 Fredman Nov. 26, 19181,708,770 McConnell Apr. 9, 1929 2,297,729 Thomas Oct. 6, 1942

